'Overwatch' Update 2.03 Patch Notes: Year of the Rooster, buffs, nerfs and social features
A new patch hit the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions of Overwatch today. The most exciting thing Overwatch patch 2.03 ushered in was the Year of the Rooster event — a new seasonal event based on the Chinese New Year — but there are a whole bunch of other changes, too.
Most notably, patch 2.03 introduces nerfs, buffs, and the long-awaited update to Roadhog's hook that was on the public test realm for several weeks.
There's also a nice new feature that allows players to equip up to four different emotes, sprays and voice lines at a time via a redesigned communications wheel.
Overwatch Update 2.03 Patch Notes
Here are the full patch notes from Blizzard's site:
New Seasonal Event: Year of the Rooster
Grab your friends, family, and loved ones and get ready to ring in the Year of the Rooster.
Overwatch's Lunar New Year celebrations have begun and, for the next three weeks, we hope this seasonal event brings you happiness, prosperity, and (most importantly) lots of fun! Collect more than 100 seasonal cosmetic items from our special Lunar Loot Boxes, enjoy a festive fireworks display on Lijiang Tower, and get ready to capture the flag in Overwatch's newest brawl.
GENERAL UPDATES
General
— The "Stay as Team" button now lights up when anyone on your team clicks it
— Players can now join Team Chat from the Hero Select screen (Push "RB" on the Xbox One controller and push "R1" on the PlayStation 4 controller)
— Crouch now has a very small cooldown between uses
Communication Wheel
— Players can now equip up to 4 emotes, sprays, and voice lines from within the hero gallery
— Voice line and emote submenus can be accessed from within the Communication wheel
— Players can now bind individual sprays, emotes, and voice lines to mouse buttons, unique keys, or controller buttons
Kill Feed
— Hero ability icons are now displayed in the Kill Feed
— Headshot eliminations are now indicated with a red icon
HERO BALANCE UPDATES
Ana
— Effect duration on Biotic Grenade has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds
— Biotic Grenade's healing boost on allies has been decreased by 50%
Developer Comments: The healing boost from Ana's Biotic Grenade was providing too much healing, especially when used on targets with large health pools.
D.Va
— Health increased from 200 to 400
— Armor decreased from 400 to 200
— Fusion Cannons' bullet damage decreased from 3 to 2
— Number of bullets per shot has been increased from 8 to 11
Developer Comments: D.Va's armor often made her feel like she had no weaknesses, even against heroes that are typically effective against bigger targets (like Reaper). The changes to her primary fire will result in a small overall decrease in damage, but her Fusion Cannons should feel more consistent now.
Lúcio
— New Hero Option: Allow Backwards Wall Ride
— When enabled, allows Lúcio to start wall riding while moving backwards.
Roadhog
— Hooked targets are now pulled directly in front of Roadhog (rather than straight to him), except in cases where Roadhog drastically rotates
— Hooked targets are now released if they leave Roadhog's line of sight before being pulled
— Line of sight checks (which determines if targets are hit by the hook) are now done from Roadhog's position, rather than the hook's position
Developer Comments: The hook should now feel more consistent for Roadhog players, but it should also feel more reasonable to his enemies, as they cannot be hooked or pulled around corners anymore.
Sombra
— Hack's cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds
— Time it takes to hack a target has been decreased from 1 second to 0.8 seconds
Developer Comments: Sombra often had difficulty hacking enemies, even when she surprised the target. This change should help her execute hacks more easily.
BUG FIXES
General
— Fixed a bug allowing spectators to utilize the "Stay as Team" button during the end of a game
— Fixed a bug that caused the "Stay as Team" button to overlap with the Back button on the Social menu
— Fixed a bug preventing the Social menu from not correctly displaying World of Warcraft zones that have an apostrophe in the name
— Fixed a bug causing heroes to display a T-pose on the victory screen after a Mystery Heroes brawl
— Fixed a bug preventing Simple Checkout from being navigated by a controller on PC
— Fixed a bug preventing Alt+Tab from properly minimizing the game client while in fullscreen mode
— Fixed a bug preventing the Kill Feed from displaying the destruction of Teleporters, Shield Generators, and Turrets
AI
— Fixed a bug that prevented the Roadhog bot from being able to hook players through Reinhardt's shield
— Fixed a bug that allowed the Sombra bot to hack through barriers
— Fixed a bug that made the Torbjörn bot unresponsive after placing a turret
Competitive Play
— Fixed a bug preventing players from receiving XP for playing offseason games
Heroes
— Fixed a visual bug with Ana's "Toast" victory pose, causing her cup to appear blurry on the right side of the screen
— Fixed a bug causing a graphics issue with McCree's "Hat Trick" emote
— Fixed a bug preventing the countdown timer from appearing on Mei's Cryo-Freeze ability
— Fixed a bug with the placement of Mercy's wings on her Valkyrie and Sigrún skins
— Fixed a bug preventing Symmetra's Photon Barrier from playing its destruction sound effect when it is destroyed
— Fixed a bug causing Tracer's "You Got It" voice line to play an incorrect line
— Fixed a bug preventing Widowmaker's Venom Mine from attaching to walls
— Fixed a bug preventing Zenyatta's Nutcracker skin from receiving a golden glow while using his Transcendence ultimate ability
Maps
— Fixed a bug preventing Pharah from being able to refuel while standing in some planters in Oasis
— Fixed a bug that caused Sombra to get stuck under the bridge in Eichenwalde
— Fixed a bug that caused Sombra to get stuck behind rocks in Route 66
— Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to place her Shield Generator in unintended locations in Watchpoint: Gibraltar
— Fixed a bug that allowed Widowmaker to perch on an unintended location in Eichenwalde
— Fixed a bug that allowed Widowmaker to reach unintended locations in Ecopoint: Antarctica
— Fixed several visual artifacts on the Practice Range
— Fixed a bug preventing some projectiles from destroying the piñatas in Dorado
— Fixed a bug with the size of the capture point on the garden tier in Oasis
— Fixed an issue preventing the glass railings in Oasis from being easily broken by a melee attack
More Overwatch news, updates, tips and tricks
For more on Overwatch, check out the rest of what Mic has to offer. Here is a full explanation of the different types of health in Overwatch, the latest rumor of a Terry Crews-voiced Overwatch character, an update on that Mei ice wall exploit, a hilarious video of a play of the game involving the jump pad on Oasis, a roundup of the best Overwatch plays of the week, our definitive ranking of every Overwatch hero and a giant Overwatch FAQ for beginners.
